Senior housing proposed for Milford Main site

Jim Cohen of CMC Properties sought ideas for development of the former Milford Main Middle School. He is proposing senior housing for the site in old Milford, as well as a small park with a memorial to the school.
(Photo:
Cindy Schroeder/The Community Press
)

MILFORD – The developer of the former Milford Main Middle School hopes to transform the high profile site in old Milford into apartments where active seniors can “age in place,” as well as a small city park that includes a memorial to the school building.

Jim Cohen, president of Cincinnati-based CMC Properties Inc., recently applied for a zone change to clear the way for the Milford on Main project that will cost “a minimum of $10 million.” After considering a number of options for the 2.35-acre site between Lila Avenue and Main Street, Cohen – whose company transformed a Milford lumber yard into the Riverwalk Flats and Rowhouses – said he concluded that the best use for the property would be senior housing.

To do that, the 102-year-old school building that many in the community have an emotional attachment to will have to be torn down, Cohen said, because it’s too expensive to save and the building is not historic from an architectural standpoint.

Before he goes before the Milford Planning Commission in December, Cohen said he will have met with at least a dozen groups and individuals to explain his plans for the site, including a leader of MAINly Milford, a Facebook group with 207 members that wants to save the school building. He hopes to enlist their support as he moves forward with his proposed zone change.

“We worked very hard to try to find the highest and best use for this site,” Cohen said. “We worked very hard to reach out to the community, to reach out to local institutions, to reach out to anybody who might be willing to come up with some use that we hadn’t thought of.”

If all goes as planned, current tenants would remain in the Milford Main building through the 2014-15 school year. Because of the community’s ties to the building, lockers, doors and other items removed from Milford Main would be auctioned off before the building is torn down.

Cohen has proposed building 92 apartments in a three-story building that would be comparable in height to the existing school building. The project also calls for 195 parking spaces, including 103 excess spaces that could be used by two nearby churches, St. Andrews and the United Methodist Church.

“This would be housing for active seniors whose kids are gone,” Cohen said. “My hope is that they’d move in and never move out.”

Jo Ann Weigel, who’s lived in Milford all of her 73 years, attended kindergarten and first grade at Milford Main before transferring to St. Andrew’s school. She understands the community’s attachment to the former school that generations attended.

“Do I want to see (Milford Main) torn down?” she said. “No. But you’ve got to look at it from an economic standpoint. You just can’t keep things forever that just aren’t usable.”

Weigel thinks the property is ideally situated for affordable senior apartments for older residents who are looking at downsizing or are weary of the upkeep that a home requires. She said it also would provide more customers for nearby businesses.

A triangular shaped piece of land at Lila Avenue and Main Street would be donated to the city for a small park that could include a bell tower incorporating elements of the old school building, such as the boys and girls entrance signs and bricks.

Soon after reaching agreement to buy Milford Main from the Milford Board of Education, Cohen posted a sign at the site seeking suggestions on what should go there.

Cohen said he received only one legitimate business plan, and that was from the Mayerson Foundation which was interested in putting a teaching/resource center for teachers on the site. But that organization wasn’t interested in spending the millions that would be required for asbestos abatement and necessary renovations, he said.

Want to know more about what’s happening in Milford? Follow me on Twitter @CindyLSchroeder.

What’s next

Hearing before Milford Planning Commission at 6 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Pattison Elementary Auditeria, 5330 South Milford Rd. The planning commission will recommend whether city council should approve or deny the proposed zone change.

The hearing before city council, which has the final say on the project, will be 7 p.m. Jan. 6 at a location yet to be determined. If council approves the zone change, CMC Properties hopes to break ground in May or June.